The Fire Academy, which began in 1999 with 37 cadets, is sponsored by Valley College, Los Angeles Fire Department and Los Angeles Unified School District. Its goal is to prepare high school students for public service careers, director John Burke said.

"If you give young people the desire, they will achieve," he said. "They will have the motivation to do their English, math and science homework because they are motivated by an exciting career."

At the academy, volunteers from the Los Angeles Fire Department train the students in safety procedures, classroom instruction and firefighting exercises.

Adriana Ruiz, 18, of Monroe High graduated from the Fire Academy last year. She returned this year for advanced training and plans to join the Explorers, a Fire Department program in which boys and girls, ages 14 to 21, work as volunteers to learn how to become firefighters.

"I've been interested in this job since I was a kid," she said. "I'm sure I want to do this. I love it."

The students now come from Grant, Lincoln, Monroe, Roosevelt and Van Nuys high schools. But other high schools may be added within the next year as other fire academies are expected to open at Harbor College and West Los Angeles College, Burke said.

Plans also are being made for emergency medical service, automotive design and biotechnical sciences academies.